Outdoor yard hydrants were developed for residential, commercial and agricultural uses. Water pipes are usually positioned vertically to the ground. The pipe is capped off with a hydrant head. The hydrant head containing the water valve is usually operated by lifting a handle and pulling it away from the pipe to discharge the water. These hydrants are modeled after hand pumps from a prior era.
Outdoor hydrants are very vulnerable to vandalism. According to most manufacturers, a chain and padlock is the most common method of securing and locking the hydrant handle to the water pipe. The end of the handle has a locking hole. One places a chain around the pipe and then positions the lock through the locking hole on the handle, thus preventing anyone from raising the handle away from the pipe and opening the water valve. While a seven-sixteenths hardened steel lock cannot be easily cut, the chain used to complete the prior art locking mechanism is quite vulnerable to defeat by simple bolt cutters or hacksaws. It is an object of this invention to replace the easily overcome hydrant chain with a steel, hardened locking collar.
Various patented attempts have been made to secure yard hydrants from vandalism. One such device was disclosed in the 2011 United States Patent issued to Milbeck, U.S. Pat. No. 8,074,960. Milbeck describes a method of restricting access to a water valve securing a locking cap over the valve. Milbeck, FIG. 2, shows an upper cap with a locking hole and a lower ring with a locking hole. Milbeck is a complete locking cap and is not designed nor does it teach a structure for a hydrant valve having a locking hole in the end of the handle.
Another cap-type locking mechanism is found in the 2013 U.S. Pat. No. 8,353,309 issued to Embry. Embry discloses a locking device with a flip top lid hingedly connected to the base of the locking device. The entire Embry locking cap is secured over the valve. Embry does not utilize the locking hole located at the end of a yard hydrant as does the instant invention. It is an object of this invention to utilize the existing structure of a yard hydrant and to provide a structure to lock the hydrant handle in place.
The instant device accommodates a standard outside pipe diameter of approximately one and five-eighths inches. However, simple modifications to the size of the collar allow a user to accommodate pipes of any outside diameter, large or small. It is a still further object of this invention to provide a locking collar for a hydrant that will accommodate any size pipe.